Snohomish

Seattle isn’t all urban sprawl, as some parts might lead you to believe, not while it still has the fertile farmlands and riverbanks of Snohomish. With its flat, rolling fields divided by the Snohomish River and its tributaries, the district is one of the most sparsely populated in the metroplex, and the government has been devoted to keeping it that way for decades.

Snohomish is Seattle’s garden and breadbasket, where a good deal of the food is grown and raised for an urban area of millions.

Major Neighborhoods

Bothell

The wealthiest neighborhood in Snohomish, Bothell rests bisected on the southern Snohomish-Bellevue border and looks almost like a national border in and of itself, the disparity often ignored when compared to the Redmond-Bellevue border wall.

It is home to quite a few recreational stables, parks, nature trails, high-tech (and low waste) factories, and biotechnological campuses which active-test livestock or agricultural advancements which are made in megacorporate facilities - typically ones on the Bellevue side of Bothell.

Bothell is also Lone Star's seat of power in the district, having fully completed their takeover of the precinct there only a few months ago due to Knight Errant's bitter sabotage of their own facilities and bookkeeping as a way of "sticking" it to their rival.

Cathcart

Cathcart is primarily a farming community along the Snohomish River. The majority of its residents are independent farmers, residents of scattered personal properties, onsite employees in an agribusinesses complex, or employed farmhands working at larger facilities like the Ingersoll Aquaculture or Snohomish Society Farms that don't house their employees personally.

While considered "depression proof" because of the residents being essential employees (and as such well-protected by Snohomish's government) the union situation in Snohomish is so dire that very few are actually paid above a living wage - a situation that is readily apparent to anyone driving through its rural fields and small, spread-out towns.

Downtown Snohomish

Quaint shops, homey B&Bs, one-of-a-kind restaurants, historic museums, and relaxing riverfront spas touch every aspect of your soul. Downtown Snohomish is the definition of home.The feel of Snohomish permeates the streets as the sun sets and the romantic history of riverside America comes to life. The splash of fish in the river, the subtle yellow glow of the riverside lamps surrounded by tiny flying insects, and the soft hum that only a riverborn Snohomishite can truly explain. The gentle smiles of your fellow strollers. The polite nod as you pass by that says “I see you” to your fellow human. The gentle chuckle that carries on the wind and draws you in to the local pubs for some succulent seared salmon over a thin layer of locally grown wild rice or a river-cooled ale brewed entirely from locally sourced ingredients.

"We stop the trouble, before the trouble even starts" is the motto of the local Lone Star precinct. They ensure that Downtown Snohomish is free of worrisome predators and any social conflict that might come of sideways glances - they even add to the small-town flair with uniforms specific to the Downtown Snohomish police but without the bulky armor that you'd expect in a Barrens, instead opting for an old timey sherriff's affectation.

Downtown Snohomish is also the “humanest” place many have ever seen. Wall-to-idyllic-wall and floor- to-idyllic-ceiling. Visitors of any other persuasion are primarily stopped outside of town and redirected. If they make it in, they’re politely asked to stay in their vehicles with their windows on max black. If they refuse, they’re politely detained until it appears they are making any form of threatening gesture, such as speaking, and then they’re swiftly and violently arrested. If the situation escalates, the local Star escalates even faster. Swarms of drones and spirits come crashing down like a ton of bricks. This mainly works because Downtown Snohomish is almost in Everett (and also the first town most coming into Seattle see, as its right on the border). In fact, several chunks of the city of Snohomish are actually in the district of Everett. The nice stretch of rural around it is what makes this little Human Nation bastion even possible, but it also helps that Everett has its fair share of racial inequality as well.

Lynnwood

Snohomish's most urbanized area, Lynnwood is typically not what people expect when they think of Snohomish: apartment blocks, heavy commercial businesses, and a lot of traffic. Most people who pass through Snohomish do so through Lynnwood via I-5, usually on their way to the border or the businesses (or shipyards) in Everett.

The massive amount of ready traffic does mean that its well equipped to deal with short-distance travelers and long-distance truckers fairly equally and it contains the majority of Snohomish's truck stops, bunraku parlors, and drug dens.

It is also home to the only large apartment blocks in the district, most of which house lower class retail workers and which are targeted by gangs and organized crime syndicates in their enterprises when they're not ensuring that the commercial center of Lynnwood is rife with crime.

The Lone Star precinct in Lynnwood is known for being notoriously brutal and prone to bribery - if you don't have the cash, then you're going to get bashed.

Lynwood also has the highest concentration of retailers in the district and core businesses anchored in and around the Everett border.

While the rebranding picturesque Downtown Snohomish has built itself into a human bastion of period piece beauty, Lynnwood is where the rest manages to slide down the gutter for one reason or another. Its where you'll find "urban" elements that rural folk typically hate, like the only convention center in the district, a community college, and several small regional headquarters for a handful of A-rated corporations.

Places of Interest

Hotels

Snohomish Sheraton

Type: Hotel

Rating: ★★

Price: ¥75

Location: 60th Avenue West & 232nd Street Southwest, Mountlake Terrace

Description: A comfortable and surprisingly inexpensive hotel located in the heart of Lynnwood.

This Sheraton has been going downhill for decades and is in dire need of some maintenance and repairs, but can’t really afford them. It’s always on the verge of being closed down, but manages to just scrape by.

The Crash Pad

Type: Motel

Rating: ★★

Price: ¥50

Location: 87th Avenue Southeast & 176th Street Southeast, Cathcart

Description: This unassuming motel located in rural Cathcart caters mostly to traveling equipment salesmen, truckers, and late-night drivers on Route 9.

It isn't much to look at, smells worse then you'd expect but on the inside it's surprisingly cozy and the owner is known for personally cooking free breakfast for those who are staying as long as they're polite.

Most importantly to those outside Snohomish, The Crash Pad has no problem with pointy ears and has a quartet of rooms (2 sized for dwarves, 2 sized for trolls) for larger metatypes. The other rooms have taller shower fittings to ensure that elves and orks will always be comfortable when staying, too

Bothell Hilton

Type: Hotel

Rating: ★★★★

Price: ¥455

Location: Northeast 173rd Street & 93rd Place Northeast, Bothell

Description: The only luxury hotel in Snohomish, its no wonder that its practically on the Bellevue side of Bothell.

The hotel itself makes a killing to two demographics: the first of which are wealthy folk who live further in the metroplex, usually in downtown Bellevue or Downtown itself. The Bothell Hilton effectively advertises a bunch of "getaway" packages thanks to deals with a few choice Snohomish landowners.

Most of these are just guided nature trails with no possibily of danger but lately they've expanded to offer wellness packages for those experiencing big city stress and having enough money to pay for someone to sit them in a field and do mindfulness exercises.

The second demographic that the hotel caters to is, unsurprisingly, traveling businesspeople who might want something a little cheaper than they'd find on the Bellevue side of Bothell.

Restaurants

Jay's Boathouse North

Type: Seattle Restaurant

Cost: ¥

Location: 242nd Place Southwest, Brier

Description: A Snohomish staple, Jay’s specializes in Salish and Seattle cuisine using locally grown ingredients, with a wide range of seasonal options. The menu changes regularly, so no two visits are ever exactly alike.

Francis Napoliatana, the owner of Jay’s, used to work the Seattle shadows some 45 years ago. He hit a big enough score and opened the restaurant as his “retirement job,” although he still has connections in the biz. Now, he’s largely retired from the restaurant, too, having turned most of the work of running it over to his daughter Frankie, who’s a smart young woman with a stubborn streak even wider than her dad’s.

She’s needed it over the past decade, since the Boathouse’s policy of employing and serving metahumans has never sat well with certain people in Snohomish.

Johnny Gao's Cantonese Cuisine

Type: Chinese Restaurant

Cost: ¥

Location: 6504 Northeast Bothell Way, Bothell

Description: Johnny Gao's Cantonese Cuisine is a beloved Bothell staple, one that opened in the late 2070's and has made itself onto various local listicles and blogs for its authentic cuisine prepared almost entirely by Hong Kong immigrants.

Literally on the Snohomish-Bellevue border in Bothell, it serves traditional Cantonese food to the working class and wealthy alike who are willing to travel outside their enclaves for a taste of Hong Kong.

The price point lands just short of being the usual fair for real meat products thanks to suppliers deeper within Shohomish, making it a pretty fair choice and the portion sizes are are decent. Their real claim to fame is the Hong Kong-style claypot meals and dim sum and they deliver all over the northern portion of the Metroplex via their own delivery people.

The owner, Johnny Gao, is actually the second-in-command of the Red Lion Triad. He's faced no shortage of discrimination in Snohomish because he happens to be an ork but Bothell's relative progressive attitudes, the popularity of the restaurant and its proximity to Bellevue have kept any major incidents from happening yet.

Nacho Mama

Type: Fast Food Restaurant

Cost: ¥

Location: 202nd Street Southwest & 60th Avenue West, Lynwood

Description: Nacho Mama is something like a cheaper-quality Taco Temple with a less-varied menu, smaller portion sizes, and worse prices. Where as Taco Temple will load you down with the soycheese and soymeat, Nacho Mama will instead offer you bread, bread, and more bread so that you keep coming back for more of the stuff - they sell it by the cup, after all!

Taking more inspiration from pop cultural ideas than actual southwestern food, its virtually a staple in every city in North America and is so widespread that it seems like its almost a required component of every mall food court that opens up on the continent.

Teriyaki Boy

Type: Fast Food Restaurant

Cost: ¥

Location: Broadway Avenue, Cathcart

Description: Teriyaki Boy is a venture by a Japanese Imperial State convenience store chain to sell their less-healthy goods in the North American markets. Almost all of the menu are easily ready-made items which can be prepared quickly, served practically immediately, and are always warm.

Originally the portion sizes were too small, the menu too Japanese, and the foods themselves too healthy for it to be that much of a hit but only five years after opening their first Seattle location, Teriyaki Boy started emphasizing teriyaki, tempura, noodles, and rice a lot more heavily than their fresh soymeats and vegetables. It worked like a charm and cost a quarter as much, so now Teriyaki Boy is the most widespread - and low quality - sources of Japanese food in North America.

The Top Side

Type: Seafood Restaurant

Cost: ¥¥

Location: Canyon Park Road & 61st Avenue Southeast, Bothell

Description: The Top Side features excellent seafood (both real and soy substitute) in a family atmosphere at reasonable prices. The restaurant is decorated with a nautical theme, with fishing nets, lobster traps, floats, and various memorabilia on display.

The Lownik family that owns the Top Side is deep in debt and struggling to keep the place afloat (no pun intended). They have rebuffed loan offers from both the Mafia and the Yakuza, knowing the kind of strings that come attached. Apparently, they’re holding out hope for some nest egg old Joe Lownik had squirreled away.

Unfortunately, the old man bought the farm before he could tell anyone in the family where the money was buried, so to speak. Lownik was Seattle Public Database Commissioner back in the ‘30s, so the paydata (if data it is) could be very well hidden.

Bars & Clubs

Better Days Bar

Type: Bar

Location: Oak Avenue & Ferguson Park Road, Downtown Snohomish

Description: Located just within the city limits of Downtown Snohomish and just off of Route 9, the Better Days Bar is the first stop that those with poor planning make when coming into the Metroplex and the last stop that those with poor planning make on their way out of the Metroplex.

Catering mostly to transients and local workers, most of which are a hair's length away from a drug overdose or houselessness. When Seattle became independent and the housing development across the border halted unexpectedly and all the contractors were let go a good number of them made their way to the Better Days to while away what little money they had.

Those that remain regulars had no better prospects and usually act as day laborers for family-owned farms or live in Everett's Fobes Hill.

Brother Anatole

Type: Bar

Location: Snohomish Avenue & 180th Street Southeast, Cathcart

Description: This local bar has a decent selection of vodkas but is merely adequate in nearly everything else.

Humanis types have hung out at this redneck hole for years. Even after somebody set the place on fire years ago, they rebuilt it and just went on with business as usual.

Needless to say, this is not a place to visit if you are metahuman unless you have a death wish.

Cocoon

Type: Coffin Club

Location: 1st Street & Avenue C, Downtown Snohomish

Description: Cocoon is one of the metroplex’s more popular "coffin clubs," a coffin hotel without the hotel portion where the Awakened can temporarily stash their bodies to get into the action on the astral.

Unlike some of the first of their type which were known for being ruddy, run-down, and generally pretty dinghy, Cocoon is fairly plush. It has comfortable cubicle beds, mood lighting, and ambient music to get visitors in the right frame of mind to make the transition to the other world.

Of course to the mundanes, coffin clubs are just a bunch of people lying around taking a snooze, so there isn’t much to see unless you’ve got magical talent.

Purgatory

Type: Nightclub

Location: 204th Street Southwest & 28th Avenue West, Lynnwood

Description: Purgatory is a “members-only club,” although nightly “memberships” are available at the door for the cost of a cover charge. The dim and smoky interior is a popular watering hole for the area’s magicians, talismongers, wannabes, and hangers-on. The additional privacy and security measures are due to Snohomish’s often anti-Awakened attitudes.

Even still, the bar’s true nature is a fairly open secret at this point, and there have been threats made. As it happens, none of them have been carried out, leading to idle speculation as to whether the threats were merely a bluff and those making them thought better of pissing off a group of magicians, or if someone took it upon themselves to do something about them.

Either way, the place is decent for getting a pint, meeting some of the local magical talent, and getting behind some decent and regularly reinforced wards, should you be in need of them.

The Bawdy Lass

Type: Bar

Location: Filbert Road & 199th Place Southeast, Bothell

Description: This traditional Irish pub has a fine selection of beers and a full menu available both at the bar and in the seating area.

It often features live music on weekends.

Note this place is “traditional Irish” in the sense of “you bloody keebs stole our goddamned country” rather than the “rah, rah, Land of the Ever Young!” boosters of Tir na nÓg.

Elves showing their faces here can expect a cold shoulder, at the very least, possibly worse depending on the crowd and how many they’ve had.

Attractions

Blackstone's Museum and Zoo of the Paranatural

Type: Zoo

Location: 118 East Avenue Boulevard, Bothell

Description: This converted farm is a privately owned zoo and museum featuring paranatural animals, many of them on loan from the Fort Lewis and Woodland Park Zoos in the metroplex.

Contracted hunters are paid well by Blackstone’s to bring in specimens from all over the world. A small veterinary team is available to assist with capture and transport, and Blackstone’s legal staff can help ensure that the required paperwork is done properly. If you’re interested (and your licenses are in order), you can make easy money grabbing freakish beasts from exotic places.

Blackstone’s is the way a lot of people in Snohomish like to see paranormals: in cages or stuffed and mounted. It is definitely not a petting zoo, and animal- and Awakened-rights activists have claimed the place is involved with illegal critter fights like those at the Coliseum.

Circle Farm

Type: Magical Society

Location: Springhetti Road, Carthcart

Description: This place used to be a rose farm, and still has a large number of rose hedges growing around the outskirts and the gates, as well as a rose hedge maze growing out behind the main house on the property and various greenhouses and outbuildings.

Circle Farm is described as an organic farming cooperative, but it is really the “covenstead” of a feminist neo-Wiccan group called the Sisterhood. Based out of Snohomish, the Sisterhood is a group of women who practice witchcraft. The group is limited to no more than thirteen members (a witch tradition) and only women are permitted to join.

The Sisterhood is a strongly eco centered and matriarchal. They believe patriarchy (the rule of men) led to the destruction of the environment and most modern social ills. They work with eco-activist organizations like Sierra, Inc., to protect the environment in their home district, and have threatened magical retribution against those who endanger what little unspoiled nature exists in Seattle.

Elven River Tours

Type: Outdoor Excursions

Location: Connelly Road & Elliot Road, Cathcart

Description: One of several companies in the district offering boat and raft tours of the Snohomish River, Elven River Tours was started as a Sinsearach co-op twenty-five years ago and has grown into a successful full-time tour company with a fleet of boats and whitewater rafts. They offer a variety of tour packages, including their all-day “River Excursion” and special tours during the salmon runs on the river.

In spite of the name, not everyone working for the company is an elf, although they still have a fair number of them. ERT is known for eco-responsibility and working with the Seattle Environmental Preservation Project and companies like Aqua Arcana and Gaeatronics.

A lot of their professional guides know the Snohomish River extremely well, including all of the secluded shoreline spots where you can land a small boat without anyone noticing, for example. For a reasonable fee, they’ll take you on a “special tour” of them, or guide you there.

Lake Forest Park

Type: Park

Location: 1015 Forest Park Drive Northeast, Brier

Description: During clear weather in Snohomish, this beautiful natural park is an excellent spot for outdoor activities, including a picnic lunch or a pickup game played on one of the open, grassy fields.

Walking trails abound for those interested in a stroll through the wooded area.

Only open until dusk and that’s because at night the park becomes the domain of all the local gangs and other two-legged predators who descend like rabid dogs on anyone foolish enough to come here after dark.

Still, some go looking for connections to get drugs, chips, or whatever else the gangs on the outskirts of the place are peddling.

The Brier Hotel

Type: Hotel

Location: Brier Road & 236th Street Southwest, Brier

Description: This place used to be a charming old family hotel until time and neglect (along with acid rain and bad air) ate away at it. About 30 years ago it was owned by two sisters, Margaret and Sarah Keslynn, who were bitterly divided over what to do with the place. Sarah wanted to sell it to any interested buyer and skip town while Margaret wanted to hold on to it and refused to sell. Then Margaret suddenly passed away “in her sleep” and Sarah put the place up for sale, apparently to pay off some heavy gambling debts.

The potential deal fell through when the buyer turned up dead of sudden heart failure. Sarah fled the ‘plex but rumor has it her debts caught up with her. The Brier has been abandoned ever since, with the particular restrictions on development preventing it from being torn down. Squatters have moved in and live in the decaying shell of the place. Some of them talk about “The White Lady” who is seen in the halls or empty rooms on some nights, still keeping watch over the place.

The Coliseum

Type:

Location: Commercial Street, Cathcart

Description: The Coliseum is just a tarted-up name for a profitable paranormal critter fighting ring. An underground network of breeders and trainers capture, breed, raise, and train a variety of paranormals as fighting animals in basements, backyards, and on “farms” in and around the metroplex.

This place does not always operate with the full blessing of the law but most nights there are enough cops in the place that they offer fair warning as to whether a raid may or may not be on the way.

Once you’re here, you can enjoy battles across several arenas.

The highlight and centerpiece of the Coliseum is the octagon, but they’ve expanded their operations into virtual battles where some of Snohomish’s best deckers show out-of-towners that Snohomish isn’t some no-good backwater. Guests can watch in AR as the hackers duel with their flashiest programs or go for the full VR experience and log directly into your favorite fighter’s stream to get right up in the action. For a rush worth every cent of the premium charge, you can ride along in hot-sim as well, betting a little pain along with your nuyen in hopes of getting the win.

Twice a month, a special opportunity usually emerges that offers access to a third arena: the astral plane. Two shamans, “former” shadowrunners known as Romulus and Remus, utilize their talents to provide a window to the astral plane, and bettors get to lay down their corporeal cash on ethereal entities. Spirit battles, mage duels, and dual-natured critters in the octagon are big draws that usually lure in high-profile guests, which usually draws in all manner of interesting onlookers.

Government Buildings

Snohomish District Courthouse

Type: Courthouse

Location: Main Street & 9th Avenue North, Lynnwood

Description: The Snohomish District Courthouse is located far from the District Hall but that is more than likely due to the fact that Lynnwood has historically been riddled with crime since the incorporation of the Metroplex.

Snohomish District Hall

Type: District Hall

Location: 1009th East First Street, Downtown Snohomish

Description: Located in the charming and historic central area, the district capitol features restored architecture and charming pedestrian space, as well as lovely tended gardens on the grounds.

Businesses

Aqua Arcana's Stillwater Island Facility

Type: Research Facility

Location: Old Highbridge Road & High Bridge Road, Cathcart

Description: The facility is home to some 250 scientists and workers who operate between the “bubbles,” as they call the ten individual one hundred-square- meter offices. These offices sit on three-meter-tall stilts above the island or in the “caverns,” as they call the facility that was painstakingly dug into the earth and shoaled up to avoid the river collapsing it.

All researchers live onsite, but due to the size and wide array of projects being researched, no one knows quite how large the place is. But they all know it’s beautiful.

According to some of their latest press releases, they’re currently working on an Awakened species of salmon with regenerative properties that can be farmed—carve out a nice filet, for example, and it will survive and regrow that portion in a matter of days. It’s a miracle fish that could provide Snohomish with a powerful way to feed the millions of starving humans around the world who suffer because of the gluttonous appetites of the heftier races.

Berkley Soy Cuisines

Type: Farm

Location: 91st Avenue Southeast & Alder Street, Cathcart

Description: One half of food giant Ingersoll & Berkley, BSC focuses on land-based and hydroponic cultivation of foodstuffs, namely their namesake soy products.

They have bought a substantial amount of land in Snohomish in the 40-some years since the company was founded and control a large slice of the agribusiness.

A lot of their cutting edge research goes into genetically modified crops able to survive higher concentrations of pollutants and even “scrub” the environment while also producing safe, consumable foodstuffs (often with a fair amount of processing).

Black Fence Farms

Type: Matrix Order Shop

Location: 164th Place Southeast & 4th Drive Southeast, Lynnwood

Description: Black Fence Farms has ten locations throughout Snohomish and each store is usually a small office with a virtual stock, two thugs on hand to act as security for any orders being delivered, and the local bank representative.. They currently have ten “store” locations spread out across Snohomish.

Each store is a virtual host tied to that location. You check out their stock online, make your purchases, and then get a location and time for the delivery. The location is always another of the stores.

BFF offers access to just about anything one would need a license for and can usually have it within a day. Those rarer and more dangerous items usually take a little bit longer to acquire and deliver.

Bothell Mall

Type: Shopping Mall

Location: Bothell Way Northeast & 19th Street Northeast, Bothell

Description: With two levels of shopping, the Bothell Mall offers the widest range of choices all in one place for the district. Some of the mall is showing its age, but it still draws shoppers from all over Snohomish.

The Bothell Mall Association has a reputation for ruthlessness, doing whatever it needs to in order to keep the place open and the merchants’ fees flowing. It has cut corners, buried safety issues and complaints, and been more than willing to play dirty when it comes to dealing with the competition. Association President Carlie Simmons is just the latest in a series of corrupt managers to run the operation. They represent a good business opportunity for shadowrunners who aren’t too particular about their work, as well as a good target for runners working for the many people they’ve pissed off over the years.

Edmonds Instruments

Type: Corporate Headquarters

Location: 76th Avenue West & 212th Street Southwest, Lynnwood

Description: Edmonds Instruments is a subsidiary of Federated-Boeing, designing, manufacturing, and supplying precision aircraft and watercraft instruments.

They started up as an independent about 60 years ago, but cozied up to FB in an exclusive deal around twenty years ago, leading to a handsome buyout offer for the owners.

Now Federated-Boeing runs Edmonds as a separate company, but integrated with their corporate structure.

French W Ranch

Type: Cattle Ranch

Location: 3001 125th Avenue Southeast, Thrashers Corner

Description: The people of the French W Ranch are renegades among the ranchers and farmers of Snohomish.

The octogenarian Carl Hoepfner is a troll who actively fights the district's prejudice against metahumans by hiring only metahumans. Having cornered the prime beef market in Snohomish back in the 2050's, Hoepfner had raised the price of beef at Seattle's first-class and luxury restaurants single-handedly decades ago and he's kept it stable (and the ranch profitable) since.

Attacks against Hoepfner's ranch are frequent. Drive-by shootings, bombings, arson, and cattle-rustling are everyday occurrences.

It goes without saying that all his farmhands are heavily armed and well-trained to deal with these sorts of threats.

Fungitech

Type: Corporate Headquarters

Location: 164th Street Southeast, Cathcart

Description: Fungitech is a corporate start-up in Snohomish specializing in mycocultures.

Fungi may not be the most exciting scientific field one can think of but its vital for a lot of communities, and in the 2070's Fungitech managed to withstand the full might of Aztechnology shadowruns for the crime of researching fungus-as-food.

Fungitech has a few farms in Snohomish, a mushroom beer in the works at its labs, and that seems to be it... at least on the surface.

They struck a deal with the Underground to set up a fungus farm down there for some of their new experimental strains, not only bringing more credit into the community, but also a potentially valuable new food source.

Before Renraku rolled into the Underground, Fungitech was the largest employer in the entire Underground. They've lost quite a few workers to those shiny new Renraku SINs and they've been pushing back anyway they can - shadows included.

They still have a lot of support with the locals, as the Underground still benefits greatly from the products of their fungus farms and they were one of the only companies to throw the Ork Underground anything at all before Prop 23 passed.

Home Helpers

Type: Department Store

Location: 200th Street Southwest & 50th Avenue West, Lynwood

Description: Home Helpers Corporation is a California Free State tool manufacturer with its own worldwide chain of home improvement focused department stores.

Tools, construction and renovation materials, lightbulbs, toilet seats, paints, adhesives, pet accessories, gardening equipment, smell furniture, insulation, travel bags, children's toys, deodorant, cleaning materials, cheap commlinks, household appliances, household drones, weather-resistant clothing, and even vending machines are all sold at Home Helpers locations across the world.

The elecic mixture of items has given Home Helpers something of a culture around it, where people go simply to wander the giant warehouse-style stores to see what the hell Home Helpers has in stock this time.

The busiest location in Seattle, this Home Helpers has its own attached food court where it serves Aztlan-American food.

Ingersoll Aquaculture

Type: Farm

Location: Connelly Road, Cathcart

Description: The other half of the Ingersoll & Berkley equation, focusing on “farming” the Snohomish River and its tributaries with a variety of pens and cultivation areas. They raise steelhead salmon, catfish, crabs, crayfish, trout, and river plants, and have been working for years with genetic modifications to increase yields, breed resistance to pollutants, and ensure restocking of rivers and lakes. Get the details on the corporate side of things in the Economy section.

Even more so than the land-based side of the business, Ingersoll has had trouble with ecoterrorism. Not just from the run-of-the-mill types looking to smash up river pens or sabotage operations, either. At one point, they were having all kinds of disastrous system and infrastructure failures along with the worst kind of luck involving river currents, flooding, and weather. Signs all pointed to a directed or vengeful river spirit but, interestingly enough, after about a month, it all stopped and Ingersoll has had smooth sailing in the aquaculture biz in Snohomish ever since, while some of their rivals have suffered problems.

Kingsley Precision Metals

Type: Metals Refinery

Location: 80th Avenue Northeast & Northeast 185th Street, Bothell

Description: Kingsley creates a variety of metallic alloys and machines or casts precision parts from them for sale to other corporate clients. They do everything from large aircraft parts to tiny cybernetic components, working with clients all over the metroplex including Federated Boeing, Mitsuhama, DocWagon, and more.

Kingsley is a potential “back door” into some of their higher-level corporate clients, since information on the design and manufacture of certain components can provide clues about the customer’s latest top-secret development project. Naturally, the clients tend to play things close to the vest, and only tell sub-contractors like Kingsley the minimum they need to know, but sometimes that’s enough.

A lot of Kingsley’s more recent work has been with real cutting-edge metallurgy, both nanofacturing and building materials down on the molecular level, and alchemical processes for creating stable magical compounds. Both are incredibly expensive and experimental, but have the potential to yield big returns if they become reliable.

NatVat Farms

Type: Farm

Location: 5th Street & Avenue C, Downtown Snohomish

Description: The listed address is their headquarters, but NatVat has two-dozen facilities spread around Snohomish. While their early arrival and expansion were full of struggles thanks to the dirty tactics used by their Aztlan rivals, with the support of true Snohomishites they were able to settle in and bring their pure farming techniques to the bountiful soils. Be sure to take the tours offered at several of their facilities. The Riverbend and Bothell facilities are great if you’re short on time, but spending a weekend in the area and checking out all 8 of the offered tours is an unforgettable way to spend a weekend.

NatVat has eight facilities where you can tour the grounds - well, a small portion of the grounds that they sculpt to create some image of green farming or aquaculture. They have at least another 16 sites but also have a smattering of high-security facilities or high-security portions of their facilities. Riverbend has a genelab in a small subterranean aquacology they built along the riverbank.

They provide a lot of money and employment to Snohomish, and the locals don’t like them being messed with, but NatVat has way too many projects with solid paydata going on here to stay away. Just be extra wary - NatVat security, Lone Star, and local thugs are going to be gunning for you if the drek hits the fan. It’s also good to remember those local thugs are a nosey lot if you’re sniffing around near a site

Shirow's Hidden Treasures

Type: Salvage Yard

Location: 10101 115th Avenue Southeast, Downtown Snohomish

Description: Supposedly Shirow's Hidden Treasures went by another name but that name was lost in the Crash of '29 when the business went under. It was quickly snatched up by an Olympia native, Shirow Iwata, during his mid-life crisis. Always a fan of motor vehicles, Shirow saw the rows upon rows of destroyed and abandoned vehicles during his relocation from Olympia to Seattle.

Almost a decade of mind-numbing wageslave work built up quite the nest egg, so when the Crash of '29 hit and he was fired from his job he liquidated his new home and subcompact, bought a truck (a trucker hat) and moved to Snohomish. He purchased the lot itself from the Snohomish government for roughly an eighth of what it would be normally worth.

From there he ran his salvage operation like a true savant, and he's had a history of rubbing the anti-metahuman sorts the wrong way but he made a habit of hiring those good with firearms and has offered a lot of people just waiting to prove themselves a steady job over the years.

Its been owned and operated by Shirow for about fifty years by now, although he's too old to run it in person. The day manager and main point of contact is an acerbic latino man, Will Ramos. He'll never cut a bad deal and he makes sure his drivers are always on time but he isn't the most knowledgeable about cars themselves - just the crap they're made out of.

Snohomish Security Personnel

Type: Security Corporation

Location: 13th Street & Pine Avenue, Downtown Snohomish

Description: This outfit was started up by Patrick Schriner back in the late ‘30s and passed on to his sons John and Daniel, who are the President and CFO in the wake of their father’s retirement. A small private company, SSP deals mostly with agribusiness contracts in the district, since guarding farms isn’t something of interest to providers like Knight Errant or Lone Star. They’ve built themselves a tidy business working with the bigger agricorps and consolidating contracts in and around Snohomish.

Patrick Schriner left the Metroplex Guard quietly after the Night of Rage incident to start his company, and all the evidence points to his involvement with the Humanis Policlub and maybe even the Hands of Five. His boys take after dear ol’ dad with regard to their views, and both are known to frequent the Bawdy Lass on occasion.

Snohomish Society Farms

Type: Agricultural Cooperative

Location: 2011 156th Street Southwest, Lynnwood

Description: One of Snohomish’s largest agricultural cooperatives, Society Farms raises a wide range of crops in the district, from wheat, lettuce, and snap beans to berries, apples, cherries, and tomatoes. They also make extensive use of hydroponic greenhouses to grow crops not suited to the Pacific Northwest climate. Tours are available through the Snohomish Society Farms Public Relations Office.

The Shofner family, with controlling interest in Society Farms, is well known for their contributions to humanist causes, including Governor Brackhaven’s election campaign, pro-UCAS stance during the Free Seattle movement, and for their unofficial company policy of not hiring metahuman workers.

Sons of Snohomish Community Center

Type: Community Center

Location: 5th Street & Cedar Avenue, Downtown Snohomish

Description: Supporting local businesses, charities, and community organizations, the Sons of Snohomish volunteer their time and donate vast sums of money to promote safety and security at public events all over the district.

The "almost pro" football star Trent "Touchdown" Dade is its current chairman. The running joke is that he got out in time to save just enough brain cells from being smashed to make it into politics.

Since taking over, he has increased membership and opened up additional Son Centers around the district, two of which are in the often-troubled regions closer to Redmond.

The Green Nymph

Type: Lore Shop

Location: 22th Street Southeast & 49th Avenue Southeast, Thrashers Corner

Description: Although lore stores are few and far between in Snohomish, the Green Nymph is one of Seattle’s best. Here, in a rustic atmosphere that will remind you of a fairy tale house in the woods, owner and operator Farshorn produces and sells a variety of magical supplies and goods. Specialty items are handmade and change regularly, so be sure to stop in and see the latest works by Farshorn and other local artisans and crafters.

Farshorn’s stuff is quality merchandise, but a lot of his success, in Snohomish of all places, is owed to the fact that he also dispenses advice, spiritual counsel, and medical treatment along with selling his wares. Over the years, he has built up a relationship with the locals such that they’re more likely to come to him with a problem, injury, or illness than they are to go to some clinic. He treats them all equally with herbal remedies, magical cures, and a sympathetic ear such that nobody cares that they’re pointed.

Thrasher's Correctional Facility

Type: Correctional Facility

Location: 3007 19th Avenue Southeast, Bothell

Description: A privately run contract prison with a long-standing relationship with the district and the metroplex, Thrasher’s has a reputation as the revolving door of Seattle’s prisons.

Unfortunately, it’s a door that is also likely to hit you in the face, since Thrasher’s tends to hire guards even more psychotic than their prisoners. Plenty of them are bribable but will just beat the crap out of you after taking what you’ve got. They also tend not to like metas, magicians, or pretty much anybody who’s not vanilla human.

It almost makes breaking somebody out of this place (and cracking some skulls in the process) a pleasant experience.

Thunderhorse Ranch

Type: Ranch

Location: Cathcart Way & I-9, Cathcart

Description: Even without the unique arcane twist provided by the shamans of Thunderhorse Ranch, the place would still be an icon of Snohomish life. Its age alone would be enough to keep it in the historical society, but its current operator, Tomil “Skythunder” Cavalara, has made sure to keep it current with modern trends without making it lose its old-world charm.

Much of Cavalara’s skill was not developed in the stalls of a horse farm or ranges of a ranch. Cavalara grew up as a bona fide cattle rustler. The rustling put him in touch with the shadows, and his skills as a shaman got him tapped by a team in Denver. He moved to Seattle when Denver went to hell and worked under the street name Skythunder for several years before retiring to run Thunderhorse, where he’d been volunteering since his arrival.

Totem Falls Antiques

Type: Antique Shop

Location: Cathcart Way, Cathcart

Description: One of the district’s many fine antique stores, Totem Falls specializes in settlement-era antiques from the Pacific Northwest, including many authentic Native American craft items and pieces of Seattle history.

Mary Rain Walker, the owner of Totem Falls, knows her stuff and is savvy enough to recognize the occasional “specialty item” that crosses the threshold of her place. That stuff isn’t on display, but you can get a look at it if you ask.

Mary is sometimes interested in buying unusual items as well, but she only wants the genuinely historic, and knows better than to get involved with old items she doesn’t understand.

VisionCrafters Incorporated

Type: Factory

Location: 228th Street Southeast & 45th Avenue Southeast, Bothell

Description: A division of the Vancouver-based VisionCrafters corporation, the Snohomish plant is relatively small and focused on the creation of precision optics for optic-based computer systems and other optronics.

Their physical security is a small hired staff of rent-a-cops, but their online security is top rate. They also make use of a lot of optical scan-beams and AR enhancements; the scanbeams can pick up and interpret physical movements in response to the AR, so you can “press” keypads that aren’t physically there, for example. Handy way of hiding the keyhole along with the key.

Medical

Freen Bamboo Medical Center

Type: Hospital

Location: 220th Street Southwest & 52nd Avenue West, Lynnwood

Description: Formerly Mountlake Veterans Memorial, this hospital provides some of the best health maintenance care in Snohomish, specializing in cybernetics and geriatrics. They also administer the Bamboo Acres Assisted Living community in the district.

The parent company is in Japan, and has installed a mostly Japanese administrative staff. Surprisingly, the place is not in bed with the Yakuza, although traditionalists who prefer a more Japanese environment come here, particularly for cyber-mods, since the doctors and implant procedures are top notch.

Snohomish Medical Center

Type: Hospital

Location: Second Street & Avenue B, Downtown Snohomish

Description: This hospital services all major HMOs and provides selective care for non-member patients.

Selective care” means “the bare minimum required by law” when it comes to dealing with patients without insurance or membership in a health maintenance organization.

Snohomish Medical has an undeserved reputation as a collection of black market organleggers due to a scandal years ago involving a staff doctor selling body parts on the sly. The hospital administration didn’t know anything about it, and they moved quickly to deal with the problem, but the media had a field day with the incident, and the place still hasn’t entirely recovered from the bad publicity. In fact, they tend to overcompensate when it comes to making sure the Medical Center has nothing whatsoever to do with organlegging or misappropriation of body parts.

The Turner Clinic

Type: Hospital

Location: Maltby Road & Woodinville Cut-Off, Turner Corner

Description: Turner Clinic had a history of mismanagement and corruption going back for decades. Most of the locals stayed away from it unless they had no other choice. The number of malpractice suits built up to a critical mass that finally broke through the clinic’s legal liability shields, forcing the board to resign and the whole place to restructure.

In the two decades since, Turner has slowly begun to rebuild its reputation and has worked hard to try to win the trust of the local community, but it is an uphill battle. All it would take is one whiff of scandal to send them tumbling into a financial abyss, which is just what a lot of the major corporate providers would like to see. After all, the physical building and assets are still viable properties.

The Avalon Clinic

Type: Hospital

Location: 86th Avenue Southeast & Maltby Road, Maltby

Description: he Avalon Clinic in Maltby is a Paladin Health Group facility.

The Paladin Health Group is known in the shadows - and to only a few - for a specific hospital in Denver.

The operation in Denver happened to contain a front for Human Nation that was sterilizing local metahumans. The shadows revealed it only to a few who are "in the know," but the rest of the world only saw the unrest and violence that occurred with some protests. Several of the doctors who died and were memorialized by Paladin were part of the project. The survivors split from that facility, and at least two - Dr. Renee Montalban and Dr. Elaine Fierambras - of them were moved here.

No one knows if they’re up to their old tricks, but that facility fits the bill perfectly, as it sits right on the edge of Redmond and tends to service a higher-than-average number of metahumans.

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